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Interviews : Lamb of God – “We’ve wanted to tour with Meshuggah forever.” (An interview with John Campbell)

By on August 12, 2013

Lamb of God – John Campbell

After what seems to have been the biggest year in American metal titans Lamb of God’s career, the band is stronger than ever. Right now, they’re preparing for their Australian tour with Meshuggah in September. And strangely enough, even though both bands have been around for a long time, and also world class metal acts for a long time, they have never done a tour together before. Lamb of God’s bassist John Campbell is stoked for it to finally happen.

“We’ve played festivals together, but we’ve never toured with them.” He says, “We’ve been wanting to tour with them forever, and it has finally come together. It’s the icing on the cake for me, honestly. It’s just a shame that we only get to spend one night in each city.”

Lamb of God has toured Australia twice since 2010. Once supporting the legendary Metallica in 2010 and the second time for Soundwave Festival in 2012 (and to promote their latest album ‘Resolution’. But this tour in September will be their first Australian headline tour since 2009. When asked about if he prefers headline tours or festival/support tours, John said “Generally speaking, yes. But our tour with Metallica a few years ago was one of my favourite tour experiences ever. Not only were we touring with one of our favourite bands of all time, but we were able to stay in each city for a week at a time, and actually get a better taste of Australia. I had an amazing time on that tour!”

John doesn’t see the support slot for a band as a bad thing though. “You get off stage and you get to have a shower and relax, maybe check out the next band before it’s time to head back to the hotel, get all your stuff together and get up early the next morning.”

2012 was a crazy year for the band. What started with a new album and Randy Blythe running a Presidential campaign eventually turned into Randy being arrested in Czech Republic, for the alleged manslaughter of a fan who got on stage during a show. Randy spent a short time in jail, and went to court, but was not guilty. Randy is in the process of writing a book which is (assumingly) all about the past year and a half, and John is very excited for it.

“I’m really excited to see this book.” He says with confidence. “Randy is an incredible writer and it will be great to see what one of my best friends can produce, and become an author.
As for the focus; when Randy gets to talking, he gets really into it. So I think the focus is over the last year and a half or so, but I imagine there will be anecdotes from his life in it as well.”
The $1,000,000 dollar bail posted to get Randy out of jail before his trial left the band bankrupt. John’s only comment on that was “People think that rockstars make a lot of money, but the truth is; lawyers make a tonne of money.”

John told me that he had a terrible confession to make when I asked him about what bands he has been listening to lately. “I don’t really listen to a lot of metal.” That might be a bit of an upset to the sensibility of what John calls “lifestyle metalheads”, but the both of us (and most of you, I hope…) don’t see appreciating other genres of music as a bad thing.
“I listen to music that just grabs me,” he continues, “The last band to do that is a South African hip hop band called Die Antwoord. I know that’s not going to please many of your readers, but I’ve been on a Die Antwoord kick for a while, and my radar is always open for something new.”
John isn’t the only Lamb of God member who is like this as well. He mentions that guitarist Mark Morton listens to a tonne of hip hop, and does a lot of the vocal arrangement.

To close the interview, John left a short message to everyone attending the monstrous September tour. “We are incredibly excited to come back to Australia. It’s one of our absolute favourite places to tour outside of our home country, and we’re looking forward to finally touring with our friends in Meshuggah.”

Tickets for Lamb of God‘s September tour with Meshuggah are selling quick. Get yours here!

FRIDAY 20 BRISBANE, THE TIVOLI – 18+
SOLD OUT

SATURDAY 21 SYDNEY, UNSW ROUNDHOUSE – Lic A/A
SOLD OUT

SUNDAY 22 MELBOURNE, FESTIVAL HALL – Licensed and Unlicensed areas available
BUY NOW ↪ http://bit.ly/LOG13melb

TUESDAY 24 ADELAIDE, THEBARTON THEATRE – Lic A/A
BUY NOW ↪ http://bit.ly/LOG13adel

THURSDAY 26 PERTH, METRO CITY – 18+
BUY NOW ↪ http://bit.ly/LOG13pert

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Patrick has been a dedicated contributor to Metal Obsession since 2011. He believes that you can put Lars Ulrich's face on just about anything. Add Patrick on Facebook.